December 5, Dear Members of Congress:

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1 December 5, 2017 Dear Members of Congress: We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to support the Healthy Families Act (H.R. 1516/S. 636), which would create a national paid sick and safe days standard. The Healthy Families Act would guarantee working people the ability to earn up to seven paid sick days a year to recover from short-term illnesses, access preventive care, care for a sick family member or seek assistance related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. Without paid sick days, workers are forced to make impossible choices when illness strikes: stay home, lose pay and risk their jobs; or go to work sick, jeopardize their health and spread illness to their co-workers and communities. Paid sick and safe days help keep families financially secure, workplaces and communities healthy and productive, and businesses and the economy strong. Forty locations in the United States, including eight states, have or will soon have paid sick days laws in place. These laws have helped to dramatically expand paid sick days coverage to more than 13 million workers who did not previously have paid sick time. A strong, growing body of evidence from jurisdictions that have had laws in place for years shows that paid sick days benefit workers and families. These studies also show virtually no adverse effects and some positive effects on businesses and local economies. 1 Despite substantial increases in access to paid sick days as a result of new laws, approximately one-third of the private sector workforce in the United States at least 37 million people cannot earn paid sick days to use when they get sick. 2 Millions more cannot earn time to care for a sick child or family member. 3 Lower-wage workers, workers of color and hourly workers are least likely to have access to paid sick time. 4 Unpaid, unprotected days off have stark consequences for working families. For a family without paid sick days, just 3.3 days of lost pay due to illness are equivalent to an entire month of health care, on average, and 4.5 days are equivalent to an entire month of food. 5 Nearly one-quarter of U.S. adults (23 percent) report they have lost a job or have been threatened with job loss for taking time off work due to illness or to care for a sick child or relative. 6 Paid sick days make business and economic sense. When sick workers are able to stay home, the spread of disease slows and workplaces are both healthier and more productive. Paid sick days also reduce presenteeism, the productivity lost when employees work sick, which is estimated to cost our national economy approximately $160 billion annually ($219.8 billion after adjusting for inflation) and surpasses the cost of absenteeism. 7 Paid sick days also reduce workplace injuries: Workers who earn paid sick days are 28 percent less likely than workers who don t earn paid sick days to be injured on the job with an even greater difference among workers in high-risk occupations. 8 Grave public health consequences can result when workers do not have paid sick days. Workers in jobs that require frequent contact with the public, including those in food 1

2 preparation and service, personal home care and child care, are among the least likely to have paid sick days and the most likely to be unable to afford to take an unpaid day away from work. 9 Without paid sick days, workers are forced to take unpaid leave or work sick. Workers without paid sick days are more likely to report going to work with a contagious illness like the flu. 10 This puts workers, customers and businesses in danger. Ensuring all workers can earn paid sick days would significantly reduce health care expenditures. People without paid sick days are more likely to seek treatment at an emergency department because they can t take time off to get care during regular business hours. 11 If all workers had paid sick days, 1.3 million emergency room visits could be prevented each year, saving $1.1 billion annually. More than half of these savings $517 million would accrue to taxpayer-funded health insurance programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children s Health Insurance Program. 12 Workers with paid sick days are more likely to get regular cancer screenings and preventive care, 13 holding down health care costs and improving long-term health. Paid sick days enable working parents to care for their children when they are sick shortening recovery time and reducing community contagion. Unfortunately, more than half of working parents are unable to earn at least five paid sick days to use to care for a sick child. 14 Parents without paid sick days are nearly twice as likely as parents with paid sick days to send a sick child to school or day care. 15 When parents have no choice but to do so, children s health and educational attainment is put at risk as is the health of classmates, teachers, school staff and child care providers. Women are disproportionately affected by the nation s lack of paid sick days, which jeopardizes the economic stability of families increasingly dependent on women s wages. Women make up nearly half the workforce 16 and nearly two-thirds of U.S. mothers are breadwinners or co-breadwinners for their families. 17 Yet, overwhelmingly, mothers still have primary responsibility for selecting their children s doctors, accompanying children to appointments and getting them recommended care. 18 Moreover, nearly four in 10 employed mothers (39 percent) say they alone must miss work when a sick child needs to stay home, compared to 3 percent of working fathers. Among these mothers, 60 percent are not paid when they take that time, up significantly from 45 percent in Like paid sick days, paid safe days are critical for workers productivity, security and well-being. Ninety-six percent of employed survivors of domestic violence say they experience problems at work related to the violence. 20 And one-quarter to one-half of domestic violence survivors report losing a job in part due to the violence. 21 Because survivors of domestic violence are at increased risk of harm during and shortly after separating from an abusive partner, 22 it is essential that they be able to find shelter, file restraining orders, attend court dates or receive counseling to prevent further abuse and continue working. The Healthy Families Act would strengthen workers and families, businesses and the economy. It would guarantee workers across the country the right to earn paid sick and safe days no matter where they live, bringing the rest of the United States in line with the states and cities that have passed these laws and much of the rest of the world. 2

3 We urge you to demonstrate your strong commitment to our nation s working families by supporting the Healthy Families Act. Thank you. Sincerely, 9to5, National Association of Working Women A Better Balance AFL-CIO American Association of University Women (AAUW) American Civil Liberties Union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) American Federation of Teachers The Arc of the United States Autistic Self Advocacy Network BreastfeedLA California Partnership to End Domestic Violence Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) Center for Popular Democracy Center for Public Policy Priorities Center for WorkLife Law Coalition for Social Justice Coalition of Labor Union Women Coalition on Human Needs Communications Workers of America (CWA) Community Service Society of New York Daily Kos Demos Economic Opportunity Institute The Epilepsy Foundation Equal Justice Center Equal Rights Advocates Faith in Public Life Family Work Farmworker Association of Florida First Focus Campaign for Children Florida Institute on Research and Education (FIRE) Food Chain Workers Alliance Futures Without Violence Human Rights Campaign Innovation Ohio Interfaith Worker Justice Jobs With Justice Labor Project for Working Families The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Legal Aid At Work Main Street Alliance Maine Women's Lobby 3

4 Make it Work Mi Familia Vota Minnesota NOW MomsRising Mothering Justice Movement Advancement Project NAACP National Alliance for Caregiving National Alliance to End Sexual Violence National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) National Association of Social Workers National Center for Lesbian Rights National Center for Transgender Equality National Council of Jewish Women National Employment Law Project National Employment Lawyers Association National Institute for Reproductive Health National Network to End Domestic Violence National Organization for Women National Partnership for Women & Families National Physicians Alliance National Physicians Alliance - New York Chapter National Resource Center on Domestic Violence National Women's Law Center NEAT - the National Equality Action Team NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice New Jersey Policy Perspective New Jersey Time to Care Coalition New York Child Care Coalition New York Paid Leave Coalition Ohio Domestic Violence Network PathWays PA Pennsylvania Council of Churches People For the American Way People's Action Public Justice Center Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law SEIU 32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU) South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice SWPA National Organization for Women U.S. Breastfeeding Committee UltraViolet Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation United Auto Workers (UAW) URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity Women Employed Women's Law Project Working Families Party 4

5 Young Invincibles YWCA USA 1 National Partnership for Women & Families. (2017, January). Paid Sick Days: Low Cost, High Reward for Workers, Employers and Communities. Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 2 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017, July 21). National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2017 (Table 6). Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 3 Ibid. 4 Xia, J., Hayes, J., Gault, B., & Nguyen, H. (2016, February 17). Paid Sick Days Access and Usage Rates Vary by Race/Ethnicity, Occupation, and Earnings. Institute for Women s Policy Research publication. Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 5 Gould, E., & Schieder, J. (2017, June 28). Work sick or lose pay? The high cost of being sick when you don t get paid sick days. Economic Policy Institute publication. Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 6 Smith, T.W., & Kim, J. (2010, June). Paid Sick Days: Attitudes and Experiences. National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago for the Public Welfare Foundation publication. Retrieved 4 September 2017, from 7 Stewart, W., et al. (2003, December). Lost Productive Health Time Costs from Health Conditions in the United States: Results from the American Productivity Audit. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 45. Retrieved 30 November, from (Unpublished calculation based on $225.8 billion annually in lost productivity, 71 percent due to presenteeism.). Inflation calculation for 2017 dollars based on calculation of $ billion in 2002 dollars using U.S. Inflation Calculator available at 8 Asfaw, A., et al. (2012, September). Paid Sick Leave and Nonfatal Occupational Injuries. American Journal of Public Health, 102(9), e59-e64. Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 9 See note See note Ibid. 12 Miller, K., Williams, C., & Yi, Y. (2011, October 31). Paid Sick Days and Health: Cost Savings from Reduced Emergency Department Visits. Institute for Women s Policy Research publication. Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 13 Peipins, L.A., Soman, A., Berkowitz, Z., & White, M.C. (2012, July 12). The lack of paid sick leave as a barrier to cancer screening and medical care-seeking: results from the National Health Interview Survey. BMC Public Health 12(520). Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 14 Smith, K., & Schaefer, A. (2012, June). Who Cares for the Sick Kids? Parents Access to Paid Time to Care for a Sick Child. Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire publication. Retrieved 30 November 2017, from -access-paid-time-care-sick-child 15 See note U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017, November 3). Table A-1. Employment status of the civilian population by sex and age. Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 17 Glynn, S. J. (2016, December). Breadwinning Mothers Are Increasingly the U.S. Norm. Center for American Progress publication. Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 18 Ranji, U., & Salganicoff, A. (2014, October). Balancing on Shaky Ground: Women, Work, and Family Health. Kaiser Family Foundation publication. Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 19 Ibid. 20 Ridley, E., et al. (2005, October). Domestic Violence Survivors at Work: How Perpetrators Impact Employment. Maine Department of Labor and Family Crisis Services publication. Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 21 U.S. General Accounting Office, Health, Education, and Human Services Division. (1998, November). Domestic Violence Prevalence and Implications for Employment among Welfare Recipients (GAO/HEHS-99-12). Retrieved on 4 September 2017, from 22 Campbell, J. C., Webster, D., Koziol-McLain, J. et al. (2003). Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results From a Multisite Case Control Study. American Journal of Public Health, 93, Retrieved 30 November 2017, from 5